Anna Noyes' 3 favorite reads in 2023

This novel’s language turns me utterly present, each breath and the surface of my skin attuned to the words. It’s a rare piece of writing that gives me this feeling, but in Kwon’s hands, every sentence–down to the syllables and commas–is deliberate, artfully chosen.

The result–which took her ten years–is soaring, exhalant, and musical. One of her characters is a former virtuoso concert pianist, and I can’t help but think reading Kwon is like being overcome by a brilliant piece of music, not one note out of place.  

Set in a 15th-century English village, this deeply immersive novel brings history to vivid, visceral life. Once more, the language is gorgeous from first to last. Narrated by the local priest as he investigates a recent death and possible murder, each paragraph is rich and multi-layered as a poem, full of sensory imagery I’ll never shake. A tender portrait emerges of one complicated man, his equally complex and unforgettable community, and our humanity.  

As a new mom, I barely had time to read this past year, and I still struggle to balance mothering and work with a seemingly endless list of care tasks. I listened to this audiobook, soothed by Davis’s compassionate, non-judgmental take on things like cooking, cleaning, and hygiene in contexts such as post-partum, depression, anxiety, neurodivergence, bereavement, and more.

Davis, a licensed counselor, shifted my perspective on keeping house from moral to functional. For the first time, I was able to view tasks in service of myself and my family, not some perceived (often societal) other, and I began to let go of many layers and years of shame. Freeing, intrinsically motivating, revolutionary!

While my daughter isn’t quite old enough to tell me the ins and outs of her favorites, this one is in heavy rotation this summer–the tale of an NYC dog and his owner who escape the heat for an island beach adventure, returning restored. She loves the pictures of taxis, the dog running free on the beach and “going under” (digging in the sand), truly all things dog.

Since we live on an island and spend our days, like this dog, at the beach, much is familiar. She’s mesmerized by the language (today, she kept repeating the line “trains rumble and hum”) and the beautiful, detailed illustrations, especially the lady on the subway eating popcorn. 

This book is rhythmic, rhyming, and fast-paced, so much like music that every time I read a certain passage, my daughter, though she was just learning to walk, would spin and dance. It’s a groove. Some of her first words were bug names like “Eyed Click Beetle” and “Buffalo Tree Hopper,” which was delightful for both of us. I think this early love helps soothe her fear of buzzing things. 

Perhaps there’s a bug theme? She loves this French snail and interacts with this book along the way–petting his shell, giving him a kiss, roaring on command, and trying to nibble on the carrot in the green salad of the book’s finale. And every time she sees a snail along our walks, she calls it an “escargot.” As a bonus, each time I read the part at the end where Escargot says, “You are very beautiful,” I tear up.